Media needs to stop judging football players

Oct. 20, 2013 at 5:20 a.m.

Editor, the Advocate:

According to the pundits and "experts" on TV, radio and the newspapers, football - college and professional - seems to be having problems, not with NFL owners and rules or college programs and rules but with its players.

If you're Johnny Manziel - Johnny Football - from Texas A&M and the first freshman ever to win the Heisman Trophy, you need to be a 20-year-old saint. Don't take money, no parties, no hanging out with superstars, no fooling around, no drinking, etc.

If you're Tim Tebow, you need to be a sinner - like Manziel. Take the money, fool around. Instead, Tebow has to endure such nonsense as "You're not a good pro quarterback; you have no stats to prove you're a qualified pro even though the Broncos won their third division under you." (The Broncos will never win the Super Bowl with Peyton Manning - my opinion.)

If you're Aaron Hernandez, there are all kinds of problems hounding you. You can take the boy out of the 'hood, but you can't take the 'hood out of the boy.